Suggests using weekly news magazines to help students develop reading and writing skills. Discusses classroom activities used by the author, such as free reading time, asking questions, writing exercises, maintaining portfolios, analyzing advertisements, tests based on articles, letter writing, and voter registration due to increased interest in…

Reports on author's experiences using lower-division developmental education (DE) students as teaching assistants in developmental social science courses. Includes benefits, such as assisting in students' socialization and dispelling DE stigma, and drawbacks, such as tension created by authoritarian role. Also includes comments made by students…

Discusses seating arrangements in small developmental classes, suggesting that having students sit in a semi-circle or work in small groups can be effective ways to keep students from attempting to disappear in the back of the class. Also offers ways to deal with this issue in a computer classroom. (NB)

Reviews four types of student retention models identified in the literature (i.e., psychological, economic, organizational, and interactional). Describes and offers examples of four levels of developmental education programs, and identifies eight critical pedagogical components of developmental education. (DMM)

Describes background and content of a library skills course paired with an English composition course in a developmental studies program for high risk university students. Several principles for teaching developmental students are listed, and suggestions for pairing courses are offered. (nine references) (MES)

A trend toward tighter college admissions standards, because more students are coming to college ill-prepared for academic work, is seen as a lack of commitment to helping students succeed. Developmental or remedial studies programs, established early to assist largely white populations, are mistakenly attributed to growing African-American…

Discusses issues related to the subject/topic content of developmental mathematics programs. Argues that such programs should teach as much preprobability and statistics as they do precalculus, and that less time be spent by students simplifying and operating with rational algebraic expressions and other process-oriented mathematical equations.…

Describes a dissertation model used in teaching a critical-thinking course for developmental freshmen. Students learned how to create knowledge by linking the five-chapter model with the elements and standards of critical thinking, and by writing and defending their own 10-page dissertations. Discusses course strengths and weaknesses. Contains 13…

Addresses the problems related to research design and the improper interpretation of survey results at the institutional level. Analyzes the validity of student opinion surveys. Discusses the importance of response rates. Encourages developmental educators to question results of surveys when outcomes are contrary to the findings of research…

Discusses criticisms of remedial courses and counters some with evidence from research. Describes the traditional approach to remedial-course delivery and explores alternatives, such as freshman seminars, supplemental instruction, paired courses, and critical-thinking instruction. Calls for a systematic relationship between assessment, advising,…

Depicts technology (both computers and television) as a new presence in the classroom. Calls for not simply replacing older teaching methods, but designing a new paradigm that utilizes computer assisted instruction as the basis for an "interactive multiplicity" of learning techniques. (SJL)

Describes a follow-up survey of United States developmental reading programs. Analyzes data and compares them with findings from the previous decade to draw implications for the future of college developmental reading. States that developmental education is dependent on innovative teaching and learning strategies and on an increase in the…

Describes an instructional process used in a college developmental reading class (as well as with upper-level classes) that promotes the development of active, engaged readers who constructed meaning through social interaction with fellow classmates. Describes how this strategy was applied to segments of "Night" by Elie Wiesel. (SR)

Describes early intervention programs designed to encourage later college attendance. The programs provide disadvantaged students with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, confidence, aspirations, and overall preparedness for college early enough in their schooling to influence their ultimate educational attainment levels. Discusses…

Asserts that college developmental reading students often start out as passive learners. Describes a college reading lab where students practice active, self-directed, independent learning. States that when students are exposed to self-regulation and metacognition, they learn to manage their own learning activities and an attitude of success can…